


A Place to Belong

by tattoosanta



Series: Alternate Universes [19]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Revival, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Found Family Dynamics, Getting Together, M/M, Persona 5 Spoilers, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Team as Family, Trauma, revival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 19:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12175125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattoosanta/pseuds/tattoosanta
Summary: Akira returns to Tokyo; partially because the Phantom Thieves didn't want him to leave, partially because he wanted to live somewhere he considered a "home". Either luckily or unluckily for him, the night he returns to his home, something else comes back to him.





	A Place to Belong

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a ton of projects already, but this one was screaming at me. Sooooooooooo  
> here you go!! 
> 
> I really wasn't expecting this to get so long, but I'm so proud of it I'm not even mad.  
> Just... maybe don't expect the rest of the chapters to be this long? ^^;  
> Either way, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> EDIT: I change the name of the fic, since the name I had was kind of... lame lol

When he had left with the Phantom Thieves from Tokyo to go back to his hometown, Akira had expected something strange. Actually, he’d expected something along the lines of Makoto turning around and taking him back to Tokyo. 

Makoto didn’t disappoint him. Sure, they’d stopped at his old home to say hello to his parents--who, unsurprisingly, didn’t want to see him, but then she turned right back on the highway and started toward Tokyo once more.

“We’ll be making a few detours along the way, as Sis wants me to send my regards to someone in Inaba and Port Island,” she started as she looked in the rearview mirror, “but I hope you weren’t seriously thinking of leaving us like that.” 

“Yeah!” Futaba giggled and wrapped her arms tightly around Akira’s neck. “We weren’t gonna let you go  _ that  _ easily! I would’ve missed you!” 

Akira smiled as the others chimed in with their agreement and closed his eyes. “Thanks, guys… you’re lifesavers.” He didn’t want to go back home, anyway. It would’ve really sucked to have had to leave all his amazing friends behind… 

“You say that as though you would have died in your hometown.” Yusuke shook his head and put a hand on his cheek. “Come now, Akira, no need to be so dramatic.”

“Says you.” Ryuji rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out. “You’re  _ way  _ worse than any of us! I have receipts!” 

“Don’t you mean  _ Futaba  _ has receipts?” Haru tilted her head curiously as she pet Morgana’s head. “I thought you put her in charge of gathering blackmail on everyone…” 

Ryuji sputtered in embarrassment while the rest of the team laughed. Ann and Makoto shook their heads up front, while Futaba needled Ryuji mercilessly from the back seat.. 

Akira just smiled and closed his eyes while he listened to the usual bickering between his teammates. Yes, this was exactly how he’d wanted this to go… 

 

\------- 

 

After a while, the group fell into a casual and comfortable silence while Makoto drove. She’d turned up the music slightly so as not to fill the silence with only breathing, but it didn’t seem to matter. 

Futaba and Haru had fallen asleep against each other in the back with Morgana over their legs, and Ryuji had taken over the floor in the middle. 

Akira and Yusuke seemed to be awake for a while, but even they got tired after some time and used each other as pillows to sleep on. 

“Sheesh,” Ann mumbled softly as she glanced back at everyone, “I guess they were pretty tired after all, huh?” 

Makoto smiled. “Yeah, I don’t blame them. I’m surprised Akira stayed awake for so long. That confrontation with his parents had to have been exhausting…” She could only imagine how terrible it would feel to be asked something like “Why are  _ you  _ here?” by her own parents… 

“I know, I wanted to smack them both.” Ann huffed and shook her head. “How could you say that to your own  _ son?!  _ I mean, really!” She puffed her cheek out and rested her chin in her hand as she stared out the window. “If anyone needed a change of heart, it was them.” 

Makoto nodded quietly and hummed, then closed her eyes for a moment. “That is true, but then we would have really had to take him back and leave him there. I don’t think any of us wanted to do that…” 

Ann closed her eyes and nodded solemnly. “No, you’re right, Makoto. There’s no way I would’ve been okay just leaving after that…” Akira had done so much for her over the course of the past year… she couldn’t just let that go. 

There was a short silence between the two as Makoto took an exit off the highway gently. The road she turned onto lead toward the quiet country town of Inaba. In the dim light of the early dusk, the road looked almost gentle… 

Soon enough, they reached their stop. Makoto turned off the car and yawned tiredly. “Well, I suppose we’ll be staying here for the night.” She stretched and looked down at her phone. “The good news is that both of the people I’m supposed to talk to are here tonight.” 

Ann rubbed her eyes and gave her friend a thumbs up. “Good to hear… But how are we going to get everyone else to wake up so we can go inside? I mean… they’re all still sound asleep back there.” 

As soon as she said that, Morgana hopped off Haru’s lap and stretched on the seat beside Akira. “Where are we now, Makoto?” He yawned and swished his tail as he looked out the window curiously. “I thought we were going back to Tokyo.” 

“We are, but I have something I need to do for Sis first.” Makoto smiled and unbuckled her seatbelt. “This is Yaso-Inaba, a small town only an hour and a half away from Tokyo.” She tucked some hair behind her ear and looked around. “I think the people I’m supposed to talk to are at the Amagi Inn…” 

Morgana nodded and licked his paw a few times. “I see… so we need to wake everyone else up, then.” He snickered and shook his head. “Okay, I’ll help you out~” 

“Thank you, Morgana--”

Makoto didn’t get to finish her expression, as immediately after Morgana had finished speaking he jumped down and landed directly on Ryuji’s stomach. So  _ that _ was what he meant by “helping” her wake the team up...

“Guh-?!” Ryuji coughed and kicked wildly as he was jolted into consciousness. “Did we crash?!” 

“No…” Makoto shook her head and sighed. “Morgana just jumped on your stomach to wake you up. Uh… good morning?” She smiled awkwardly and twirled her hair in her index finger. “Will you help us wake everyone else up?” 

Ryuji groaned and threw Morgana off him as he awkwardly wiggled out of the van. “Yeah, yeah… I guess I’ll help you guys out.” He yawned and ruffled his hair tiredly, then shook his head and went to climb into the back to wake Futaba and Haru up. 

Ann rolled her eyes and put a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder as Ryuji struggled to wake up the girls. “You can go ahead and get us checked in, Makoto! It might take a while to get everyone woken up…” 

Makoto chuckled and nodded slightly. “Alright, I will go get us a few rooms for the night, then.” She turned on her heel and started toward the front doors of the large inn. She hadn’t made previous reservations, but…

“No, I shouldn’t worry so much. Akira said he’d help if I needed it, anyway.” She shook her head and stifled a yawn as she approached the front counter. “Good evening.” 

“Oh, hello!” The receptionist turned at the sudden voice and smiled softly to Makoto, despite the shock evident in her deep brown eyes. Her straight black hair lay partially over her shoulders, complementing the pink kimono she wore. Really, this woman was just beautiful, but… for some reason, Makoto felt something more coming from her. “Welcome to the Amagi Inn. How can I help you?”

“Oh, um, do you have any vacancies tonight?” Makoto blinked a few times to release her thoughts from their stupor. For some reason, she had expected an old lady. Perhaps it was just the stereotype of such a building like this… “I’d like to book a few rooms for just one night.” 

The woman put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes, as if going over the map of the building in her head. “Hmm… I think we should have a few rooms close to each other. Would two be alright with you?” 

Makoto smiled. “That’s perfect, thank you very much.” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her wallet. “How much do I owe you for the stay?” 

The woman plugged some numbers into her computer. “...Altogether it will come to 25,000 yen. You can either pay now or wait until you have to check out tomorrow morning, if you like?” 

“Oh, I’ll just pay tonight, thank you.” Makoto shook her head and held out her card. “I appreciate the accommodations so late at night, ma’am.” She shifted her weight and glanced out the window to the van. It looked like Ann had succeeded in waking up Yusuke and Akira, at the very least… 

The woman giggled as she swiped Makoto’s card and shook her head. “Oh, I’m not old enough to be called ma’am yet! My name is Amagi Yukiko.” She snorted again at the thought of being called ma’am. This was something Chie would have to hear about later…

Makoto blinked in surprise, then shook her head and smiled politely. “Well… thank you, Amagi-san. It’s a real help to my friends and I.” She was sure they could’ve just slept in the car, but… honestly? She didn’t want to deal with Ryuji’s snoring any more than she already had. 

“It’s my pleasure.” Yukiko smiled and handed Makoto’s card back to her, along with two keys. “Are you and your friends on a road trip? It’s an odd time to be taking one…” There wasn’t a break coming up, was there? She couldn’t remember… 

Makoto shook her head. “No, we were supposed to be taking one of our group back to his hometown, but… it didn’t work as planned, so we’re taking him back to Tokyo with us. And I have some business here with a few people.” 

“I see…” Yukiko nodded and looked to the door as the rest of the Phantom Thieves shuffled sleepily in. “Well, feel free to use our outdoor baths. They’re open all night tonight, so don’t worry about going quickly.” 

“Thank you.” Makoto bowed and looked to her friends. “I got us two rooms. I think the boys should have their own room for tonight.” She smiled when she was returned with nodding and quiet “yeah whatever”s. “We can use the baths tonight if we need to as well.”

“You’re great, Makoto…” Futaba yawned and leaned against Akira, who seemed to be about the only person other than Makoto that was somewhat awake. “Let’s get to the rooms so we can sleep!” 

“I must concur.” Yusuke yawned behind his hand and closed his eyes. “We have more road ahead of us tomorrow, no? We all ought to get good rest tonight to avoid any conflict in the car.” He punctuated his statement with a look at Ryuji. 

Ryuji pouted and crossed his arms. “You should be pointing that at Morgana, not me!”

“I only instigate fights I know I can win.” Morgana purred and swished his tail mischievously. He snickered when Ryuji glared at him and shook his head. “So… all of them.” 

Makoto narrowed her eyes at the two and shook her head. “We need to get to our rooms so we can stop bothering Amagi-san now. It’s late, and I’m sure she’d like to get some sleep tonight.” 

She glanced over to Yukiko, but Yukiko was staring at Morgana, her eyes wide. Had she heard him speaking, then…?  _ No, there’s no way… As far as we know, we’re the only Persona-users.  _ She had to have just been tired. 

After a short while, Yukiko shook her head and smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry about it. I have to wait up for a few friends tonight anyway.” She was curious about Morgana, but she would keep her mouth shut for now. “You all look very tired, though. Please get some rest for the night!” 

“Thank you!” Ann cut in at that point and started pushing Haru and Futaba toward Makoto. “Let’s all get some rest, yeah? We can’t have us all being exhausted tomorrow on the way home!” 

Makoto nodded and tossed the second key to Akira. “Very well, it’s time for us to get some rest.” She turned to Yukiko and bowed deeply. “Thank you again for your hospitality, Amagi-san. Good night.” 

Yukiko bowed in return, and, after that, the group went to their rooms to rest for the night. 

 

\------- 

 

Makoto woke up first in the girl’s room, as was her habit. She yawned tiredly, stretched, and crawled out of her futon to get dressed. Once she had gotten all her things in order, she brushed her hair and put her regular headband on before she left the room quietly. 

Just outside the door was Akira, who looked like he had just woken up and hadn’t bothered to brush his hair or prepare for the day at all past his glasses. It was… par for the course for him. 

“Good morning, Leader.” Makoto smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. “I wasn’t expecting you to be up so early. Did you sleep well?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Akira yawned and rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I ended up sleeping underneath Yusuke for most of the night, though. My right shoulder is pretty sore today.” He chuckled and shook his head just a little bit. “What are you up to?” 

She shrugged. “I was going to see if I could find a place to talk to the people I’m supposed to talk to today.” She paused for a moment. “It’s for Sis, she wants to know if her tips were wrong or not.” 

“Oh, I get it.” Akira nodded and closed his eyes. “Is she thinking of working with these people?” He did recall Sae telling him she was going to switch to being a defense lawyer, after all. Maybe she was looking for a new detective to work with.

“Exactly that.” Makoto nodded and smiled; almost proudly, like an older sister or a mother would. “Would you like to accompany me to meet them?” 

“Sure,” he shrugged, “we still have some time before everyone gets up, anyway.” He figured it might be nice to meet some new people, too. Especially if they were going to work with Sae in the future. He might not have a record now, but… who knew when he was going to need her services?

Makoto hummed and nodded, then started down the hallway. “No time to waste; I believe they’re both here right now anyway.” She motioned for Akira to follow her, but did not move to check if he did, nor did she slow down. 

Akira shook his head and jogged to catch up to her. “Who exactly do you need to talk to for Sae-san, Makoto?” He was pretty sure she hadn’t mentioned that before. Or… maybe she had, and he had just been too tired to pay attention.

“Oh, right, I suppose I never mentioned their names.” She sighed. “I’m looking for Shirogane Naoto and Kirijo Mitsuru. Sis told me about them, and asked that I at least talk to them to see what they were like.” 

“Okay, that makes sense.” Akira nodded. “I’ll leave it to you, then, Makoto. I don’t want to get into trouble with anyone.” He laughed when Makoto gave him a look and twisted his bangs between his fingers. “I’m kidding!” 

“You better be.” Makoto punched his arm, albeit playfully, and shook her head. She rounded the corner quickly, again leaving Akira behind, only to stop suddenly at the sight of two people she had only sort of expected to see. 

Standing by the receptionist’s desk was one Kirijo Mitsuru. Her long, red, hair was tied up in a loose bun, and she was dressed mostly casually. She seemed to be talking to someone off to her side, but her height made it hard to see who it was. 

“Oh, good morning!” Yukiko smiled as soon as she noticed Makoto standing there. “Did you need something?” 

“U-Um, actually, yes.” Makoto cleared her throat and nodded awkwardly. “I was here to speak with Kirijo-san, on behalf of my sister.” Though, she had to say… she hadn’t expected her to be so… intimidating.

Mitsuru turned at the mention of her name and rose an eyebrow at Makoto curiously. “You wanted to speak with me?” She put a hand on her hip and shifted her weight a little bit, “What did you need to talk about?” 

Makoto bit her lip and pulled out Sae’s business card. “My older sister wanted to get to know you, Kirijo-san. She doesn’t have much time to travel, but since I’m out on the road for the time being, she asked me to see if I could give this to you.” 

“I see…” Mitsuru took the card and turned it over in her hand. “Niijima, hmm…?” She nodded and put it in her jacket pocket. “I’ll give her a call and set up a time to go see her, then. Was there anything else you needed?” 

“Actually…” Makoto dug in her pocket to find another card. “I hear you work with a Shirogane Naoto occasionally? Would you please give this to her and tell her it’s from Sae’s little sister?” 

Mitsuru blinked, then smiled and shook her head. “Of course. I’ll let her know, and have her call your sister when she gets a chance.” She nodded a little bit as if reaffirming this to herself and put a hand in her pocket. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going. Thank you again for the lovely tea, Yukiko.” 

Yukiko smiled and shook her head. “Any time, Mitsuru-san. Take care, and give Leader my regards and apologies!” 

Mitsuru nodded and held her hand out for Makoto. “It was nice to meet you, Niijima-san. I hope to see you and your sister in the near future.” She turned on her heel, waved to Yukiko, and left the inn quickly. 

Makoto sighed and nodded to herself. “There… that’s done now.” It would have bothered her all day if she hadn’t gotten it done promptly, so it was good that she found Mitsuru so soon. “...Akira? Where are you?” 

“Right here!” Akira peeked out from around the corner and waved sheepishly at his friend. “I got dizzy, since I forgot to put my glasses on when I left the room, so I was just waiting for you to finish your business.” 

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I was wondering why you were so slow this morning… Let’s get you back to your room so you can get your glasses and function like a real human being.” 

“Well  _ excuse me  _ for having the eyesight of a snake.” He stuck his tongue out in her general direction and put his hands on his hips. 

“Don’t you sass me.” She pinched his cheek and puffed out her cheek. “Once we get you ready for the day, we’ll get back on the road again.” 

Akira nodded and rubbed his cheek where Makoto pinched him. “Right.” He had to say, he was looking forward to that, if not only for the fact he would be back where he felt welcome and loved soon. “Let’s get moving, then.” 

 

\------------

 

The road from Inaba to Tokyo was mostly, if not entirely uninteresting. Most of the group slept the entire drive there, and those that remained awake only spoke periodically between themselves. Perhaps it was because it was the second day of a trip, but they were all very tired. 

Luckily enough, before even Makoto started to doze off, they reached their destination. Or, at the very least, they reached the exit for Shibuya so they could park the car and take the train back to Yongen-Jaya. 

“We made it!” Futaba suddenly exclaimed, jolting Makoto and Akira back to attention right before they completely dozed off. “Good driving, Makoto!” 

The girl in question put a hand over her heart and let out a deep breath. “I didn’t know you were awake, Futaba. You startled me…” 

“Nyehehe…~” Futaba snickered and shook her head. “Joke’s on you; I was awake the whole time!” That was very… Futaba-ish of her to do and say. She was pretty quiet as it was, so it was no wonder she had eluded them the whole ride home. 

“Of course you were…” Akira shook his head and stifled a yawn. “Who else is awake back there? Just you?” 

“Nope!” Futaba smirked and poked Yusuke on the side, earning her a yelp and a growl of disapproval from the boy. “Inari’s awake now too!” 

“Quite begrudgingly, I might add.” Yusuke yawned and roughly ruffled Futaba’s hair. “Are we getting close, then?” 

Makoto nodded, though she realized too late that neither Futaba nor Yusuke could see her doing that, and smiled. “Yes. I was planning on dropping you three and Morgana off at the station and taking the car back to the rental place.” 

“Works for me!” Futaba chirped. “I can’t wait to see the look on Sojiro’s face when he sees this guy walk back in the front door of Leblanc!” 

“Yes, it will be a sight to behold.” Yusuke smiled and nodded his assent. “We should get there as quickly as we can.” 

Akira nodded, and after a short bit of driving in circles, Makoto parked the car. “Alright, let’s get to Leblanc.” He opened the door and hopped out, glad to finally be on his feet again. “Futaba, will you grab Morgana for me?”

“Sure thing!” She nodded and yanked Morgana up from off Haru’s lap to hold under her arm and dragged Yusuke out of the car with her. “Let’s go let’s go let’s gooooo!” 

Akira smiled and Yusuke groaned as they followed the excited girl down into the subway to catch the train to Yongen. Hopefully they hadn’t missed the earliest one… 

 

\----- 

 

By the time the group made it to Leblanc, it was early evening and Sojiro was getting ready to close up shop. 

“Sojiro, I’m home!” Futaba chirped as she threw the door open happily. “I brought a friend!” 

“Oh, I’m glad you made it home safely Futaba.” Sojiro laughed and shook his head. “It’s good to see you again too, Yusuke.” 

Yusuke smiled and sat down on one of the barstools. “I can’t stay long, but Futaba was lonely, so I decided to spend some time with her today. It has been strange with Akira going back home, though…” 

Futaba made a face and put her cheeks in her hands. “Yeah, it really sucks.”

“I miss him too, but he had to go home.” Sojiro shook his head and grabbed a bar mop to wipe down one of the mugs he’d just washed. “Try not to dwell on it too much, okay? Maybe he’ll come visit over the summer--” 

His sentence was interrupted by the door opening again, followed by a quiet clearing of the throat. 

Sojiro almost dropped the mug he was wiping down in shock. “Wha… What are you doing here?!” He turned his head to look at Futaba, who just snickered. “Was… did you kids plan this all out behind my back?” 

“Well, sort of?” Akira smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. “That and… my parents  _ really  _ didn’t want me back at home. So, it was…  _ mostly  _ unplanned.” 

“Oh, I see.” Sojiro nodded and looked at the clock. “Well… for tonight, why don’t you stay upstairs again? I’ll see if I can clean out any rooms at the house for you to stay in. Futaba and Yusuke need to get home too, before the trains stop running.” He looked mostly at Yusuke as he said that. 

“You are right.” Yusuke nodded and stood up. “I will be taking my leave, then. Have a good night.” He paused for a moment at the door beside Akira to move some of his hair from his face and squeeze his shoulder, then left quietly. 

Futaba stood up with a stretch and gave Sojiro a thumbs up. “Okay Sojiro, let’s go home!” She turned and ran to give Akira a hug, then bounded out the door excitedly. 

Sojiro followed after her with a shake of his head. “That girl… well.. I’m glad you’re back, kid. Be safe tonight.” 

“Thanks, Sojiro.” Akira nodded and shifted his weight. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.” 

Sojiro nodded and left the cafe quietly. After the ringing of the bell stopped, the small shop was quiet.

“Hey, hey, did we make it?!” Morgana poked his head out of Akira’s bag and rested his paws on his shoulders. “Good going, Joker. I’m going upstairs to get some sleep!” He swished his tail and hopped down off Akira’s shoulder to bound upstairs. 

Again, Akira was alone. He didn’t mind so much this time, since it was a quiet he enjoyed. The soft scent of coffee beans and leftover curry was homey and welcoming. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This…  _ this _ was home. 

He started to make his way toward the stairs, only to stop when he heard the door open again. “Did you leave something behind, So--” He stopped halfway through his statement upon seeing who was standing tiredly before him. 

“A...Akechi-kun…?!” 


End file.
